Poem Tryouts: The Animal in All of Us

25Mar

7:26 a.m. — Atlanta

listening to Iz singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World

Hello, all. Listening to Iz singing this song makes everything feel better, at least, for the moment. Such a lovely rendition, especially for a Spring/Autumn morning, that’s waa-aay too early. I am in my computer corner, the sun not yet over the horizon, a single lamp trained on my keyboard. First cup of coffee is gone; the next is down the road a bit.

The images I chose for you to play with have a small back story. Last week I was emailing back and forth with my brother [his version of chat] and sent him the following to express how I was feeling:

While discussing the type of bird, he interrupted with: It looks like Gee Gee. I returned to the photo and laughed. It does, indeed, look like our grandmother.

Two days later a site I follow, Where Cool Things Happen, posted: ‘More Than Human Animal Portraits,’ a series by photographer Tim Flach. You’re getting glimmerings of the prompt, aren’t you?

Head over and look at the photographs. Take your time. As you review them, allow your brain to roam through your family, or friends, or co-workers, or someone you saw who is memorable to you.

When your brain says, That’s it. That’s Uncle George [or Cousin Melanie, or your spouse, or the Starbucks barista who serves you regularly, or your boss…], stop and look at the image for several minutes, picking out what it is that makes the resemblance uncanny. For my brother and myself, it’s the white cloud of ‘hair,’ the eyes, a little, and something else, undefinable.

You are going to write a portrait poem. When you have your image and your person, think of words associated with your particular animal and jot them down. Jot down another list, of things you associate with your chosen person. The likeness can be other than a facial feature. Maybe it’s the stride of the animal, or the way it holds its arms, or its hairstyle [so to speak].

What you do now is up to where your mind is taking you. You might write a poem where you use some of the words associated with your chosen animal as ways to describe your chosen person. They can be threaded throughout, but you never mention the animal. The poem stands on its own.

You might be less direct and use similes. Here you mention the animal, either briefly once, or all the way through.

You might choose to set your person within the context of a scene, or memory. How the person behaves, or reacts, helps illustrate the person’s likeness to the animal you chose.

I am giving you the link to the photographer’s site because the opening page is so cool. Then click on portfolio–>More Than Human. The slideshow has 61 slides. You can certainly watch and choose one of those. To stop a slide, mouse underneath the photos and thumbnails will show up. Click on the one you want to look at more closely.

Think of it as finding a new perspective on someone. I know: this is one of those prompts where you try to figure out what exactly I am asking you to do. As always, that’s okay. Write poems.Post.

I shall see you Thursday for stuff; Friday for the week’s prompt roundup; and that’s it until May 6. The blog will be active, but with my Oulipo poem a day challenge. Follow along for some very different prompts.

38 responses to “Poem Tryouts: The Animal in All of Us”

What a site (or sight)! Thank you, Margo, for the link. Cool things indeed. I was laughing so hard, when I saw the dog’s portrait (a puffy cloud of hair): I immediately saw somebody I know. It was the face, too, not just the hair. Amazing. I just hope people I know won’t see me in that rooster..

Actually, the rooster pic didn’t agree with me. I don’t think that plucking a living rooster justifies the artistic, pro-vegetarian or any other message. Unless something happened to this particular guy, and he lost his feathers naturally, but I doubt it. I feel he would have been a better dancer with his tutu on.

Now that’s an image. I like the tutu idea. I don’t know about the rooster. The other photos seem to show an immense respect for the animals. I’m off to get my hair cut but now I’m curious. I shall come back and investigate naked roosters.

It would be. In the meantime, take any direction you want. Keep people out of it altogether. If not, ah well. May is around the corner! Although you might be irritated enough at one of the oulipo prompts I’ll be working with to give it a bash. I’m hoping people try some of them.

:)!!! Ha! I love that AND my snarling and a bit of finagling worked!! I printed some text into the posting box and when I right clicked on that the copy/paste tool suddenly appeared so I’m in!! Yay…it’s the small things…I tell ya. 😉

I know exactly what you mean!
Sestina’s second verse begins
right where the last one ended.
Then go back to the beginning,
for your second second line end.
Third’s the one before the last last;
Forth is what was second. Fifth
was forth and Sixth was third. It’s
simply back and forth and out to in!
I know just what you mean: Wow!